Turf War Over Millennials Expands

TwitchCon in San Francisco on September 2015. More than 600 Twitch partners attended the event.

Gamers have moved live streaming into the mainstream thanks to Twitch TV.

Twitch was created as a platform to allow users to stream games, watch others play and interact with each other in real time. Available on platforms including Xbox One and PS4, as well as Amazon Fire TV and iOS, Twitch’s user base is surging. Twitch attracted 100 million monthly viewers in 2014 and that’s set to grow.

Twitch claims to reach half of the millennial males in the U.S., prompting Amazon last year to buy the platform for nearly $1 billion after Google’s attempt to buy the company faltered, reportedly over antitrust concerns.

More recently, Twitch has begun to move past gaming and into general entertainment. Twitch made big news at the end of October when it launched a creative channel, airing the 403 episodes of Bob Ross’ 1970s hit “The Joy of Painting”. The marathon was a hit – more than 5 million unique viewers tuned in – and the show will now be aired every Monday.

In short, this is a platform with immense potential for content providers of all stripes. With user numbers set to grow, Twitch represents an opportunity too big to ignore.

Anyone inclined to dismiss gaming as a remote community of boys and men in their teens and 20s with too much time on their hands should take heed. Many people also wrote off Facebook and Twitter, arguing that a platform for relationship status updates or rants about newsmakers would always be inconsequential. Any organization wishing to reach digitally native millennials should start thinking about what will work on Twitch.

Rachel Stafler

I am a journalist with a passion for writing about small businesses, start-ups and the people behind them. I believe that even the most complex concepts can be made simple with good writing. I started my career in journalism at NBCNews.com in New York and moved to London more than 10 years ago. Having worked on both sides of the Atlantic, I am fluent in both American and British, though British may slowly be winning.